It's time to start thinking BACK TO SCHOOL (yeah, sorry). Nothing says "back to school" better than duct tape. From fashions to book covers, duct tape is the go-to tool for your education quest. To read our back to school Top Ten list - click here.

Dealing with Disease using duct tape as art...Having three friends who have suffered with Crohn's Disease, this submission from Jessica P. from Brooklyn, NY struck a chord with me as an innovative and a great use for duct tape. Jessica writes:

"Dealing with the entrapment and overwhelming feeling one can endure during both Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Crohn's Disease.

"I experience both of these illnesses and therefore must face these feelings on a day to day basis. I deal with these feelings by recreating them through my artwork.

"Stripes" is a series I created to express how my disease makes me feel both emotionally and physically. The patterns used and loud and contrasting in order to show the intensity of the emotions. The patterns begin to grow and take over spaces, walls and eventually myself to show how sometimes it feels as though the disease takes hold on me and swallows my body.

"By creating the disease in a physical art form, it creates a way that I can face the disease straight on and feel less threatened. By creating my illnesses, I feel more in control of them."

Click here to learn more about about Crohn's Disease.
To see more images from Jessica's cathartic Duct Tape Art click to our art gallery - page 11.

Got an innovative duct tape use that you'd like to add to our mix? Check out our Duct Tape Sightings pages and email us your comments / photo submission to the link on the page.

Homework Enforcer Hi my name is Steve and I tend to put things off (like home work). So one time I had a lot of home work to do and I did not want to do it. My teacher made me do it by Duct Taping me to the chair and then to the table and a pencil to my hand until I was done. The worst part of it was talking all the duct tape off of me. --- Steve

Crime Preventative Idea? You should lobby for "tear strips" in duct tape so that duct tape cannot so easily be used to commit crimes. ---- James Good idea, James. However, I would lobby for gun, knife and baseball bat control first. - the Duct Tape Guy

Duct Tape Window Gasket I drive a 1993 Ford Tempo. The car had been repossessed from the previous owner. While getting into the car, the repo-man used, I assume, a coat hanger to get in. While doing so, the water seal on the driver's side door was damaged. To repair it I simply used duct tape. --- Jeff B.

Hawaiian Uses I am a tile setter - Raw ground open finger tips can be wrapped in Duck tape to prevent stinging from water and porter cement - repairs the rubber gloves too. Lastly: Auto body and paint - large holes and Bondo are a problem that crumpled newspaper and Duck tape can fix by filling the hole. I have even taped right over a hole and smeared the Bondo right over. Car seat repair also. --- Janna, Maui, Hawaii

Read a TON more stories of how duct tape has saved the day for ordinary folks around the world at the Duct Tape Diner.

Frog Tape announces winners of Earn Your Stripes ContestHey, Frog Tape?! We're the Duct Tape Guys, Tim!
I know, Jim, but there are some things that duct tape is NOT the right tape.
Oh, yeah?! Name one!
Well, masking walls for painting prep for one.
I don't paint my walls, I just duct tape over them.
I know, Jim - and it looks like, ah... Well, suffice it to say that some people would rather paint. And for them, FROG TAPE is the tape of choice...

More than 50 creative contestants leaped into action for the FrogTape® brand painter’s tape “Earn Your Stripes” contest. A panel of judges chose the top three designs based on criteria of workmanship, originality and room accessories. “Cooked-up Kitchen” by Nora Firestone is the “Earn Your Stripes” grand prize winner of $5,000. The awards for second and third place went to “It’s a Movement” by Heather Flint and “Tessellation” by Elyas Beria, respectively.

The contest, which ran April 1 through June 30, 2011, asked homeowners across the United States and Canada to remodel a room and accessories, such as tables, frames and mirrors, with more than just a simple coat of paint. Contestants were challenged to use FrogTape and create stripes, checkers or other creative patterns to transform their spaces.

Firestone of Virginia Beach, Virginia, submitted before, during and after photos which showcased her “Cooked-up Kitchen.” The grand prize winner updated her 25-year-old cabinets by painting them white on top and a shade of brown on the bottom. She added a checkerboard pattern to create a faux backsplash using both FrogTape Multi-Surface and Delicate Surface painter’s tape. Firestone didn’t stop there; she also used coats of concrete primer on the countertops and even painted designs on kitchen accessories.

Back to School With Duct TapeWe know that a lot of you are going back to school. So, first, check out our Back to School Top Ten List...
After you read through the list, read soak in this bit of Duct Tape News: Many back to Middle or High School, but many colleges. Duck Tape has a school-appropriate- color duct tape for you! Check the Duck Brand web site for all of their colors and patterns, or click this picture to see the College Logo tapes that are available (and Jim will note that for the color blind people out there, the Georgia tape works equally as well as Green Bay Packer logo tape). Click the image below for more information.

While you are there, check out the HOW TOs to make drink koozies, a pennant, a megaphone, etc...

Tim's daugher, Jana, is an accomplished jazz singer (and a music teacher by profession). With her band, the Jana Nyberg Group, Jana and her husband, Jazz Trumpeter, Adam Meckler, have just produced their second album. This one, titled "Fever", will be released in August and features some jazz standards, pop covers and original music - something for everyone. You can download two free songs from the new album at JanaJazz.com and hear a sampling of the other tunes on the CD as well.

One of Tim's paintings - "Fever" - is featured on the cover. You can also visit Tim's g42art.com web site to see all kinds of his paintings from abstracts to humorous portraits and landscapes. You can buy prints of his originals or reproductions in any size that you desire. Oh, and attend a "virtual opening" at Tim's g42art.com - with easily navigatable hallways that are labeled according to the genre of art posted. And, you will be greeted with a video by Tim. Hey, if you don't have anything to do why not stop by right now... just click here.

My daughter was just in Boston and took a cab, which had a GPS installed. I wonder if they have special "Cab GPS Systems" for taxis in New York which direct them thru Bayonne, NJ when taking out of towners from the airport to their midtown hotel.

I never know when I am going to need to take Ibuprofen, that's why I try to never have an empty stomach. - Thanks to Dudley D.

I think that an interesting tv show would be one where the casts were switched between "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" and "Trick my Truck".

I went to Staples and got some really expensive Single Malt Scotch Tape.

Warning on tube of Childrens' Benedryl: "Keep out of reach of children." - Thanks to Rob E.

I brought two old bicycles to a place in Boulder that takes them apart and rebuilds them to use again. To me, this was the ultimate in re-"cycling".

I am thinking of getting a memory foam mattress but I am not sure how many gigabytes to get.

I don't think I have ever really gotten over Tara King replacing Emma Peel.

You have no business being married or having children if you have no tolerance for white noise.

Not sure if it is a good thing or not when a face painter advertises that she specializes in "hideous birthmarks".

I was in a store with a friend of mine and he bought some pants that were 38 x 38. I didn't think he was that tall. He told me that he had made a vow to himself that he would never be in a position to have to buy pants with the waist size larger than the length so he had to keep buying pants that were too long.

If I ever owned a bandwagon, I don't think I would ever let anyone jump on it.

dale's website discoveries:

I must have spent at least two hours clicking around on this site. Maybe that tells you a little too much about me but I think you may find this addicting as well. everyday-carry.com

Life is hard for a lot of people. Starving people are simply not acceptable when so many of us have more than we need to survive. If you have a bit extra to help a fellow human being, please consider giving to a worthy cause.

Tim recommends, "Feed My Starving Children" as a worthy charity that gives almost 100% of their contributions to feed starving childrend around the world. Click here to learn more and to consider donating to this worthy cause. They really have a unique nutritional system in place that does SO much good.

Thank you.

Shhh! Don't tell ANYONE! (okay - go ahead and tell everyone)
Here is the secret link to our HUGH JASS deal:
You get Duct Tape Books Two and Three, AND a Duct Tape Halloween Book AND Tim's 99 Bottles of Beer on the wall - the complete lyrics, AND a Duct Tape Pro Bumper Sticker AND Button. Over $33 of merchandise for just $12 plus shipping. Click here NOW to get this deal for yourself!

Ask the food/exercise experts
Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?
A: You must grasp logistical efficiency. What does cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So steak is nothing more than efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef also good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And pork chop can give you 100% of recommended daily allowance of vegetable product.

Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake?
A: No, not at all. Wine made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine, that mean they take water out of fruity bit so you get even more of goodness that way. Beer also made of grain. So, Cheers!

Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?
A: Well, if you have body and you have fat, your ratio one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio two to one, etc.

Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?
A: Foods are fried these day in vegetable oil. In fact, they permeated by it. How could getting more vegetable be bad for you?

Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?
A: Definitely not! When you exercise muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want bigger stomach.

Q: Is chocolate bad for me?
A: Are you crazy?!? HEL-LO-O!! Cocoa bean! Another vegetable!

Q: Is swimming good for your figure?
A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain the whale.. .

Q: Is getting in shape important for my lifestyle?
A: Hey! Round is a shape!

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways -Tequila in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO-HOO, what a ride!!"

AND... For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health...
It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies:

1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans..

4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

5. The Germans drink a lot of beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

CONCLUSION: Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

DUCT TAPE ART - if you are creative sort or enjoy the artistic endeavors of those around you, you will probably enjoy perusing our ART GALLERY.

If you haven't figured it out yet, our site is pretty danged MASSIVE! We invite you to browse around. A good place to start is at our refrigerator door - just start clicking on stuff and seeing what you find.

Suggestion: If you are feeling hungry, you may wish to check out our ever-[belly]expanding recipe collection. You can get to that by clicking here.

Or, just use the handy pull-down listing below to navigate to all of the nooks and cranies of DuctTapeGuys.com.

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